The present invention relates to agricultural machines of the mower or mower-conditioner type which can be placed before or behind a tractor or laterally thereof. These machines comprise cutting element carriers in the form of discs or the like mounted on a elongated housing containing the transmission element intended to drive these discs in rotation.
Machines of this kind are known where the elongated housing is fixed in relation to the frame. This is the case especially when a drive element communicates its rotating movement directly to one of the discs, the other discs being driven in rotation by transmission elements mounted within the elongated housing. The advantage of these machines resides in the fact that their working width is substantially equal to their overall width. On the other hand the changing of the disc coupled to the drive element is impractical, since it is necessary completely to dismantle the elongated housing and to refit it; as this work is difficult it necessitates the presence of two persons.
Machines are also known, especially of the mower-conditioner type, which are drawn both at work and in the transport position, wherein the cutting mechanism and the conditioning mechanism are articulated as a whole or mounted floating in a chassis so that they can be raised for transport in order to avoid all risk of damage to the discs and/or cutting elements. Thus the width of the chassis in these machines is greater than their working width. With such machines, running over still-standing fodder without cutting it is unavoidable, and this is harmful to the fodder. Moreover on this type of machine the discs are relatively difficult of access in view of the presence of element for conditioning or conveying the fodder, situated above the discs. Thus the replacement of a disc is as difficult as in the case of the machines as described above.